Magnetic stars could have created LIGO’s massive black holes

Strong magnetic field prevents mass from fleeing, computer simulations show

ATTRACTIVE PAIR Magnetic stars (illustrated) could help create massive black holes. This is a visualization of a pair of such stars discovered in 2015. Yellow lines trace the magnetic field, and color shows north (red) and south (blue) magnetic poles.

V. Holzwarth/KIS

To create a heavy black hole, it might help to start with a massive magnetic star.

Strong magnetic fields could help stem the flow of gas from a heavyweight star, leaving behind enough material to form hefty black holes, a new study suggests. A pair of such magnetic stars could be responsible for giving birth to the black hole duo that created recently detected gravitational waves, researchers report online December 1 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The shake-up in spacetime that was picked up the Advanced Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, in 2015 came from a collision between two black holes weighing about 29 and 36 times the mass of the sun (SN: 3/5/16, p. 6). Such plump black holes were surprising. The

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